'Z Nation' Canceled at Syfy

Daniel Sawyer Schaefer/Syfy

'Z Nation'

The zombie drama was a low-cost acquisition that the NBCUniversal-owned cable network ran for five seasons.

Z Nation's final days have come.

Syfy has canceled the zombie drama after five seasons. The Dec. 28 season-ender will now serve as its series finale. The cabler confirmed its decision to end the show after producer David Michael Latt first announced the news in a video on social media.

While the series from The Asylum is wrapping its run, the franchise will remain alive and well as Netflix picked up eight episodes of Z Nation prequel Black Summer, starring Jaime King (Hart of Dixie).

Never a ratings breakout — Z Nation's most recent episode attracted all of 430,000 total live-plus-same-day viewers — the drama starring Kellita Smith, DJ Qualls and Keith Allan was a low-risk swing for Syfy, making it easier to keep the series running for nearly 70 episodes.

In his post, Latt expressed sadness at the end of Z Nation but called Black Summer "just the beginning of a lot of things."

Meanwhile, Syfy has been making some big swings, including George R.R. Martin's Nightflyers and, coming in 2019, Deadly Class, as well as returning scripted originals Channel Zero, Van Helsing, Wynonna Earp, Happy, Krypton and The Purge; the final season of Killjoys; and the upcoming animated late-night entry Alien News Desk.